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Empirical Investigation of Strategy Implementation in Non-Government Organizations
Empirical Investigation of Strategy Implementation in Non-Government Organizations
government organizations
Nurul Afiqah Haji Nor Amin (*)1, Thuraya Farhana Haji Said2, Md Zahidul Islam3,
Safayet Rahman4
ABSTRACT
Strategy implementation is considered as an essential part of
strategic planning because it translates the chosen strategy into
Journal of Business & organizational action. Considering its high failure rates, substantial
Economic Analysis attention should be given to strategy implementation, especially in
(JBEA)
non-government organizations, as most past studies have focused on
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Vol. 2, No. 1 (2019) issues prevailing in profit-making entities and the public sector.
Thus, this becomes the aim of this paper to investigate factors
influencing strategy implementation in non-government
J. Bus. Econ. A. 2019.02:19-34. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
CITATION INFORMATION
Amin, N. A. H. N., Said, T. F.H., Islam, M., & Safayet, R. (2019). Empirical Investigation of Strategy
Implementation in Non-government organizations. Journal of Business and Economic Analysis, 2(1), 19-
35.
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JBEA | Vol. 2, No. 1 (2019) Strategy Implementation in NGOs
1. Introduction
Strategy implementation has an important role in any organization, regardless of its
sector for the reason that it encompasses activities to achieve strategic goals and
objectives. However, it has been one of the most challenging aspects as the
involvement of numerous activities can complicate the implementation of the
strategy. Previous studies had mostly focus on strategy implementation of two main
sectors, the public, and private sector than of non-government organizations (NGOs).
NGOs are a non-government non-profit volunteering group that can be organized
locally, nationally, or internationally with a common interest to advocate a specific
issue, such as human rights, environment, education, or health. NGOs have a different
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kind of strategies due to the nature of its vision and mission not to maximize profit
but to perform humanitarian functions, provide information to the community and
bring citizen concerns to governments for a policy that needs change (Gil‐Estallo et
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al., 2006).
Nevertheless, NGOs can utilize management principles such as those in public and
private organizations in terms of having an aim in achieving goals no matter what
situation they are in as they are vulnerable to any external environment changes, such
as social or political changes and financial assistance that could influence the
implementation of their strategy. Thus, NGOs can improve their management by
incorporating strategic management approach (Wilson-Grau, 2003). However,
Backman, Grossman, and Rangan (2000) stated there is a limitation of studies on
strategy implementation in NGOs and this highlights the need to have a conceptual
understanding of strategy implementation in the sector.
In this light, this paper intends to fill this gap in strategy implementation literature by
investigating what are the factors influencing strategy implementation of NGOs in a
small developing country, Brunei Darussalam. Although there is a small number of
NGOs in Brunei, they have almost equal importance with other sectors to achieve the
country’s vision and aspiration. For example, the Society for Community Outreach
and Training aims to conduct activities and programs to decrease poverty. Therefore,
the role of NGOs for the country in meeting the Brunei Vision 2035 cannot be ignored.
Moreover, the nature of legislation in Brunei has ensured that NGOs and the
government can work together and maintain a close relationship (Nexus
Commonwealth Network, n.d.). Therefore, this makes the research context an
interesting one to investigate in terms of what are the factors that influence strategy
implementation in Brunei Darussalam NGOs.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows; the review of relevant literature, the
development of the hypotheses and the description of the methodology adopted in
this research, followed by an analysis of the results. The last two sections discuss the
empirical findings and conclude the research paper with its contribution and
directions for future research.
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2. Literature Review
The literature of strategy implementation is rich with both quantitative and qualitative
studies. Several factors such as strategy, structure, systems, values, leadership styles,
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staff, and skills were often recognized as common factors that influence strategy
implementation (Waterman, Peters & Phillips, 1980). However, amongst the common
factors, most researchers (e.g., Ali & Hadi, 2012; Al-Kandi, Asutay & Dixon, 2013;
Ivancic, 2013; Kalali, Anvari, Pourezzet & Dastjerdi, 2011; Kundu & Manahor, 2012;
Rajasekar; 2014; Qi, 2005) found that organization structure, leadership, and
organizational culture, are strongly linked with strategy implementation.
In the case of NGO, since the sector is vulnerable to the external environments such
as their dependency on an external source for financial support (Lekorwe and
Mpabanga, 2007) and competitors and socio-political influences (Analoui and
Samour, 2012), the external environment should be considered as a factor that
influences strategy implementation in NGOs. As a result, the hypotheses of this study
focus on these four factors such as organization structure, leadership, organizational
culture, and external environment that are seen as relevant in the context of strategy
implementation in NGOs. The next section reviews the literature of strategy
implementation about these factors and the development of the study’s hypotheses.
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While Metin (2017) stated that having an organic organization structure such as
flexible and adaptable structure can increase the likelihood of the sustainability of
NGOs, Marquez (2015) argued that organizational structure in NGOs needs to have
some governance such as rules and regulation when making a crucial decision. In
other words, the organizational structure in NGOs can vary from a rigid structure to
a flexible one depending on the context. Although there are limited studies regarding
the organization structure of NGOs in Brunei, generally, it can be said that the
organizational structure in Brunei tends to be formalized and centralized (Nor Amin,
2018) following the bureaucratic administrative system (Steiner, 2018) as clear
instructions, manuals, and organizational regulations (Janićijević, 2013) may enhance
the implementation of strategy. Hence, investigating to what extent organizational
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For NGOs that are commonly working closely with the government, their leaders
could be considered as policy entrepreneurs as they have the power to influence
policy-makers (Marquez, 2015). In Brunei, cultural aspects have a significant impact
on leadership preference in Brunei Darussalam (Nor Amin, Wuen and Ismail, 2017).
The study further revealed that a directive leadership consists of the leader directing
and giving clear direction is preferred rather than the one that gives autonomy in the
country. This is common to be seen in a country such as Brunei and other South East
Asia countries to which Swierczek (1991) stated that a dominant autocratic leadership
trait is embedded in South East Asia countries. Thus, this suggests the importance of
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JBEA | Vol. 2, No. 1 (2019) Strategy Implementation in NGOs
leadership role in all sectors, including NGOs and the second hypothesis has been
developed:
found that organizational culture that creates a sense of belonging within the
organizational members to the organizational objectives have a positive influence on
strategy implementation (Ahmadi et al., 2012; Al-Kandi et al., 2013). In the case of
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NGOs. Marquez (2005) stated that it is essential for the members to have shared
principles and beliefs to shape the identity of the organisations in achieving their
objectives. For example, a study conducted by Duke & Edet (2012) has revealed that
there was a positive association between organizational culture and the performance
of NGOs. Wanjiku and Agusioma (2014) further added that an organizational culture
that needs to be in place for implementing the strategy in NGOs have to be
competitive and entrepreneurial as the sector work in an environment that needs to
maximize their ability to be innovative, to be creative and to be independent. In line
with this view, an organizational culture that promotes flexibility and innovation
should be seen as a significant factor when implementing a strategy in NGOs.
However, in the Brunei context, there is a tendency to follow the traditional pattern
which corroborates with the classical bureaucratic form of Brunei (Rashid and Said,
2018; Said, 2013). This is contradicting to previous studies that believed culture that
promotes flexibility and innovation should be seen as a significant factor when
implementing a strategy in NGOs. Thus, the relevance of this culture needs to be
investigated in the context of Brunei and this leads to the third hypothesis of the study:
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JBEA | Vol. 2, No. 1 (2019) Strategy Implementation in NGOs
limited number of NGOs, funding problems that emerged from slow economic
growth can cause a restriction to generate fund from donors to carry out activities
and programs for the cause they believe in. Schwengeret al. (2014) stated that
NGOs need to focus on finding approaches to overcome the challenges from the
external environment that are consistent with their moral ideals and practices. This
leads to the last hypothesis of this paper:
3. Research Model
Based on the literature, this study has focused on four factors, which are
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four hypotheses were developed to test the context of NGOs in Brunei. By testing the
hypotheses; it can validate previous research studies and add new conceptual
knowledge to the existing literature of strategy implementation and also new
empirical knowledge by investigating the strategy implementation in NGOs in
Brunei. Figure 1 shows the framework used for this research.
4. Research methodology
This study utilized quantitative methods as Vargas Hernández, Pérez, & Rangel (2016)
stated that such methods could contribute to the knowledge of strategy and
administration fields. Since there are limited empirical studies on NGOs in Brunei, it
is vital that information is investigated on a large scale using quantitative methods,
which can produce generalizability in the context.
Using a survey, the instruments were first assessed on its common method bias. In
order to do so, this study followed methods provided by Podsakoff et al. (2003) to
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JBEA | Vol. 2, No. 1 (2019) Strategy Implementation in NGOs
reduce common method bias. For instance, the items of the questionnaires were
adapted from different sources such as Zaribaf & Hamid (2008) and Chemwei et al.
(2014). To ensure validity, the questions were improved through pre-testing study
whereby the items were ensured in terms of its concepts, simplicity, and conciseness.
During the data collection, the respondents were ensured of their anonymity.
section of the questionnaire. A 5-point Likert scale was utilized in the questionnaire,
and then, statistical analysis has been undertaken to analyze questionnaire responses.
Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the items, while linear
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Most of the respondents have been employed in the organization for one to three years
(37 percent). Thirty-seven percent of the respondents stated there were less than ten
people in their organization, 36 percent had ten to twenty people in their organization,
21 percent had twenty-one to thirty people in their organization, and only a small
number of respondents that is 6 percent stated they have thirty-one to forty people in
their organizations.
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Table 3: ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
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Table 4: Coefficients
Model Unstandardized Standardized Correlations Collinearity Statistics
Coefficients
B Std. Coefficients
Beta t Sig. Tolerance VIF
Error
1 (Constant) .930 .785 1.19 .242
meanOS 1.00 .216 .764 4.66 .000 0.65 .370 2.701
meanL -.379 .245 -.257 1.55 .03 0.39 .359 2.784
meanOC .394 .174 .298 -2.26 .07 0.50 .574 1.743
meanEE -.274 .124 -.250 -2.22 .15 -0.08 .788 1.270
a. Dependent Variable: meanSI
6. Discussion
As shown in the regression analysis, the organizational structure was found to have a
strong relationship with strategy implementation. This result shows that
organizational structure is vital for members of NGOs who are committed to carrying
out their responsibilities. This also points out that Brunei administrative system has
influence (Steiner, 2018) NGOs to adopt a formalized and centralized structure (Nor
Amin, 2018). Although the findings differ with NGOs in another context where they
promote organic structure to have effective strategy implementation (Metin, 2017),
this study agrees with a study by Marquez (2015) that argued that organizational
structure in NGOs needs to have some governance such as rules and regulation when
making a crucial decision. Hence, the importance of context cannot be overlooked that
in this case, the bureaucratic structure appeared to be relevant to carry out strategy
implementation in Brunei NGOs.
In the literature, there are different views on the role of leadership in strategy
implementation ranging from directive to supportive leadership style. This study has
revealed that leadership that is supportive and communicative has a positive
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JBEA | Vol. 2, No. 1 (2019) Strategy Implementation in NGOs
As for organizational culture, the result of the study has shown that organizational
culture does not have a relationship with strategy implementation which contradicts
with Wanjiku and Agusioma (2014) that found that innovative and flexible
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with the classical bureaucratic form of Brunei organizations (Rashid and Said, 2018;
Said, 2013).
Although Duke & Edet (2012) stated that the bureaucratic form could lead to lack of
involvement with members in the organization in decision-making, the dominant
bureaucratic culture existed in this study proved to be necessary to carry out strategy
implementation (Said, 2013). In this case, a lack of flexible organizational culture to
implement the strategy is not necessarily a disadvantage because the importance of
having an organizational culture that suits the context of NGO is more important to
share the core values to form judgments and to take action, which in return will create
an effective strategy implementation. Thus, similar to Lawrence & Nohria (2002) and
Wilber (2000), it is essential to take into account the cultural perspective during
strategy implementation. NGOs in Brunei can focus and leverage on these specific
variables towards improving their overall organizational cultures, such as to share a
common goal, consistent communication, and transparency.
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working closely with the government that may indicate stable funding. This differs in
another country as such that a study by Kitua (2015) found out that political system
instability, such as acts of terrorism affects a considerable part of the organization's
activities. Hence, the external environment may affect the nature of the organization’s
mission, objectives, and policies. However, since Courtney (2002) stressed the
necessity of the opportunities and threats analysis for NGOs in order to understand
an effective way of the conditions of their external environment, therefore, NGOs in
Brunei may require these analyses to figure out the external surroundings impacting
the main activities of NGOs in the future.
about strategy implementation in NGOs in Brunei. The findings of this study have
confirmed some of the previous studies and provided more insights such as based on
empirical evidence of this study that organizational structure and leadership
positively influence strategy implementation in Brunei Darussalam NGOs, while
organizational culture and external environment factor have no relation with strategy
implementation. Although this study showed that organizational culture and external
factors are not significant towards strategy implementation, there will be times
wherein a case of economic crisis, behavioral factors can shape resource allocation
(Martian & Lee, 2017). For instance, thus, these factors should also be taken into
consideration for organizational improvement.
The study has several limitations. First, the sample of the study only targeted at
managers or senior level committees of NGOs, thus giving a small sample size as there
are only 40 active NGOs in the sultanate. Because of limited time and research access,
to keep this study within manageable proportions for rigorous investigation, only four
factors were considered relevant in the context of NGOs in Brunei, and this creates
opportunities for future researchers to expand the study. This study has focused only
on the implementation aspect of the strategic management of NGOs, therefore having
a broader approach in future research would give much more comprehensive
understanding of the subject in terms of strategic management for NGOs.
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